Stay Updated

As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox.


editor’s picks

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By
Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jan 2, 2020

Russia set to escalate fight against Ukrainian Orthodox independence in 2020

By
Khrystyna Karelska and Andreas Umland

Moscow’s refusal to accept the January 2019 decision to grant Ukraine Orthodox independence has split the entire Orthodox world. The schism is likely to worsen in 2020 as Russia fights to prevent the loss of a crucial foothold within Ukrainian society.

Civil Society
Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 2, 2020

Why we must talk to Russia

By
Samuel Charap and Jeremy Shapiro

Right to reply: the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert recent published an article by Anders Aslund critical of the October 2019 RAND report “A Consensus Proposal for a Revised Regional Order in Post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia”. This article is a response to Aslund from two of the report’s authors.

Conflict
Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Dec 26, 2019

Russia-Ukraine War: Is peace possible in 2020?

By
Peter Dickinson

The Russia-Ukraine War enters its seventh year in 2020 with no sign of a compromise that could end the conflict. Could recent efforts to restart the peace process produce results during the coming twelve months?

Conflict
Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Dec 24, 2019

Ukraine’s government must not undermine growing business optimism in 2020

By
Andy Hunder

88% of Ukraine’s American Chamber of Commerce member companies reported increased revenues in 2019. However, concerns remain that the Ukrainian authorities could yet spoil this positive picture during the coming year.

Corruption
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Dec 22, 2019

Trump blocks Putin’s pipeline with US sanctions

By
Diane Francis

Only weeks away from completion, new US sanctions force Nord Stream 2 contractor to down tools, placing the pipeline’s future in jeopardy.

Geopolitics & Energy Security
Oil and Gas


UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2019

Putin’s Russia is stagnating but there will be no “Moscow Maidan”

By
Dennis Soltys

The Russian economy is facing stagnation and domestic discontent is on the rise, but the strengths of Putin’s authoritarian system mean Ukrainians should not expect a repeat of their own Maidan movement in Moscow anytime soon.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2019

Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev: “The likelihood of Russia helping us is zero”

By
Diane Francis

Andriy Kobolyev took over the reins of Ukraine’s energy giant Naftogaz during the country’s darkest hour in March 2014. Despite huge progress, he continues to face political opposition at home and an array of international challenges courtesy of the Kremlin.

European Union
Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2019

Putin’s imperial ambitions mean Ukraine must learn to live with frozen conflict

By
Taras Kuzio

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy says he will make painful concessions to achieve peace with Russia, but Putin’s vision of Ukraine as part of Russia’s historic heartlands means there is little room for compromise.

Conflict
Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Dec 17, 2019

Paris impasse: Time for Zelenskyy to get real about Russia

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s long-awaited first meeting with Vladimir Putin failed to provide a breakthrough towards peace, leading to calls for more realism in relations with Russia.

Conflict
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Dec 17, 2019

Mr. Kuleba comes to Washington

By
Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s Deputy PM Dmytro Kuleba visited Washington, DC, last week to reassure the US government that President Zelenskyy’s team remains committed to the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

Democratic Transitions
Geopolitics & Energy Security

Load More

spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.

Learn more

Follow us on social media
and support our work

support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2018

Ukraine’s Veterans Are a Powerful Constituency. Who Will Control Them?

By Lauren Van Metre

On February 27, Ukraine’s parliament voted to establish a new Ministry for Veterans, pending the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers. The parliament has been active on veterans’ issues, adopting more than thirty laws in the last three years to provide social services and protections. But more than twenty ministries and government departments handle veterans’ […]

NATO
Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Jun 6, 2018

Ukraine’s Devastating Problem Is Only Getting Worse

By Diane Francis

Political disaffection is not unique to Ukraine, but the lack of optimism and new access to European jobs foretells more migration.

Macroeconomics
Migration

UkraineAlert

Jun 4, 2018

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

By Daria Kaleniuk

In a recent Foreign Affairs column, Adrian Karatnycky and Alexander J. Motyl argue that the West’s anticorruption policies are failing in Ukraine. This is false. The West’s anticorruption policies are spot on, and the West needs to dig in and push even harder. Karatnycky and Motyl are right that Ukraine has changed for the better […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2018

Putin’s Bridge to Nowhere

By Askold Krushelnycky

Russia’s war in Ukraine has entered its fifth year. Skirmishes and killings continue every week but have faded from the headlines—perhaps because they have reached “an acceptable level of violence.” I was a teenager when I first heard that chilling term uttered by a British politician in 1971 referring to the low intensity war in […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2018

How Ukraine Can Seize the Moral High Ground in the Donbas

By Lauren Van Metre

Fighting in eastern Ukraine last week was the worst it’s been this year. The uptick in violence coincides with Ukraine’s transition of the command of the war from its security forces to its armed forces, which is part of the implementation of Ukraine’s new law on reintegration. While much of the new law has not […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 30, 2018

Q&A: “Dead” Russian Journalist Arkady Babchenko Is Alive and Well. Does Faking His Murder Help or Hinder Ukraine’s Credibility?

By Melinda Haring

On May 29, the media reported that Russian journalist and Putin critic Arkady Babchenko had been assassinated in Kyiv. He reportedly died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. On May 30, Babchenko appeared at a press conference, alongside the head of the Ukrainan Security Service (SBU) Vasily Gritsak and Prosecutor General Yuriy […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Richard Pipes: An Appreciation

By Stephen Blank

I was not a student of the late Richard Pipes, and I only met him once briefly, so I cannot claim any special relationship or unique insight into his personality and character. Nevertheless, he was and remains a model for historians of Russia and those who aspire to understand Russia as it really is.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Why I’m Still Doing Business in Ukraine

By Paul Niland

Ukraine is a challenging and confusing place to do business. At the same time, it’s also exciting and changing. I’ve been doing business in Ukraine for fifteen years, and while Ukraine has a bad reputation for international business, it deserves a second look.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Time to Cut Out the Middlemen in Ukraine Gas Trade

By Diane Francis

Four years after Ukrainians protested in the streets against jaw-dropping corruption, the most odious scheme of all—the corrupt natural gas market—continues to siphon billions from Ukraine. These proceeds underwrite a sophisticated bribery scheme in Russia and Ukraine, and more recently help subsidize Russia’s war and occupation against Ukraine. The heist was devised years ago by […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 25, 2018

Russian Armed Forces Downed Civilian Airline Four Years Ago, Investigators Conclude

By Michael Bociurkiw

The noose is finally closing on the people and structures behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Almost four years after the Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur-bound flight was shot down by a BUK missile over Ukraine, a clearer picture is emerging on the origin of the missile, its route to the firing zone in […]

Russia
Ukraine
Load More